It was a 100% work-free day (with the exception of the time I spent jotting down ideas into an email on my iPhone at the A’s game… yes, I have problems).
Every Sunday I wake up with the intention of going to kickboxing at 9:00. The problem with that plan is that it interferes with Sunday breakfast, either pancakes at home or a walk to Peet’s for a scone and milk (the boy) or muffin and iced tea (me). Without fail, every Sunday morning when I wake, I manage to remind myself that years from now, he won’t remember that Mommy went to kickboxing, but he will remember (I hope!) that he sat on my lap at Peet’s as we shared our breakfasts, read four books and watched the cars go by. And when I think of it that way, I realize that taking a day off is ok.
It’s that same philosophy that I have to use when thinking about traveling back home to Philadelphia. It’s been almost a year since my last visit, and even though I was planning to go back sometime mid-summer, my 91-year-old Nana has developed some health problems that have made me want to accelerate that timeframe.
As I looked at my calendar, I felt guilty about taking the trip. Three of my conferences fall in the mid-April to early-June timeframe, and with a couple of significant deadlines ahead, could I really afford to take more time off? And then I remembered two things: 1) that I get tons done when I travel, because there’s nothing else to do in a hotel room or on the flight, and 2) and even if that wasn’t the case, we’re talking about visiting a woman who’s 91; do I really think she’ll be waiting around forever? Taking a couple of weekdays off to travel back east with the boy is not going to kill me, nor is it the kiss of death for any of my projects.
Speaking of death, I’ll be abandoning the computer in the middle of the day to attend a funeral. Yet another case of something that you make the time to do because it’s the right decision.
And lest you think that ditching kickboxing meant no workout, you’re wrong. We walked to breakfast at Peet’s (about 1.4 miles with the stroller), did some intensive gardening that I can still feel in my shoulders, and ran about 2.4 miles tonight. Add in the time we spent sitting in the brilliant sunshine at the A’s game, and it was definitely a full day.